Kevin Mayer, world title holder but who suffers from left Achilles tendon, launched his decathlon on Friday by running the 100m in 10.79 at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. Mayer, who appeared without a strap, finished second in the first heat with an average time by his standards, one tenth behind Estonian Johannes Erm.

The double decathlon world champion (2017 and 2022) had estimated his chances of going to the end of the decathlon at “below 50%” three days ago, when he revealed that he had suffered from the left Achilles tendon for two weeks. “The state of mind is to do nothing to make it worse, to make it expensive vis-à-vis Paris”, where he dreams of Olympic gold next summer, he who is double Olympic silver medalist (2016 and 2021), he explained. “As long as it doesn’t cost me for Paris, I want to give myself a chance. I have the experience of a big injury in Doha (left Achilles tendon crack and tear at the 2019 Worlds), where I had pushed too much. I had taken until February to start running again. I never want that to happen to me before Paris”.

The second event of the decathlon, the long jump, is scheduled from 10:55 a.m.

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